Letterpress Depot Workshop Series:
The Cento—a Two-Part Poetry and Letterpress Printing Workshop
Register for this two part workshop!
Call 720-480-5358 for more details
Location: Red Delicious Press
9901 E 16th Ave. Aurora, CO 80010
Class Cost: $100 for both classes, which includes paper, ink, and other letterpress materials
Cento Poem 1: Introduction & Workshop
Saturday, November 5, 2016
12-3 p.m.
Instructor: Alicita Rodríguez
The Cento is a form of poetry dating back to antiquity. Also known as a patchwork poem, a cento is a poem where every line comes from another source. Traditionally, poets borrowed lines from other poets. Today, writers compose all sorts of centos, taking lines from varied sources—bumper stickers, book titles, nonfiction books, Twitter posts, etc.
This course will provide an introduction to the cento form. We will read diverse cento examples, then students will compose and workshop their own centos. In the spirit of celebrating letterpress printing, we will also compose a four-line cento taking each line from sample text in font catalogs.
Cento Poem 2: Setting Type & Tabletop Letterpress
Sunday, November 13, 2016
12-3 p.m.
Instructor: Tom Parson and Alicita Rodríguez
After students compose and perfect their cento poems, they will have the opportunity to learn basic letterpress printing using a tabletop press. Students will learn the layout of the type case and set their 4-line cento poems by hand. They will learn how to ink and work the tabletop press. And at the end of the workshop, students will come away with a postcard or small broadside of their poems.
Instructors will be available during the week to help students choose fonts, images, colors, and paper before the second workshop date. That way, students can design their letterpress postcards using elements that complement their cento poem’s content.
Instructor Bios:
Alicita Rodríguez has taught creative writing at Warren Wilson College, Metropolitan State University of Denver, and Western State Colorado University. Her poems and stories have been published in literary magazines and anthologies, including Sentence, TriQuarterly, Palabra, and Sudden Fiction Latino. Alicita is also co-author of a children’s book and co-editor of a scholarly book on the Body Worlds exhibit. She holds a PhD in creative writing from the University of Denver and an MFA in fiction from New York University.
Tom Parson is a master letterpress printer who has been printing and teaching for more than 30 years. Owner of Now It’s Up to You in Denver, Tom is also a poet—in fact, poetry broadsides and small press publishing led him to letterpress printing in the first place. He has mentored many students over the years, working with graphic design interns at Metropolitan State University of Denver and students at other colleges and schools throughout the state. His devotion to the art and craft of letterpress printing is evident in his printing collection, which includes presses, metal and wood type fonts and printing cuts, and other equipment. For this reason, he founded Letterpress Depot, a non-profit working museum and community printshop that will be housed in a historic train depot in Englewood, Colorado.
About Letterpress Depot:
Letterpress Depot is a non-profit museum and community printshop that celebrates printing history by housing, restoring, and using letterpress equipment. Our expert printers and designers serve as an informational resource and teach letterpress printing to anyone who wants to learn. Once remodeling is complete, Letterpress Depot will be housed in an historic train depot in the Denver suburb of Englewood, Colorado—where members will be able to use our collection of equipment as a way to preserve and advance the art of letterpress printing